The Book

Nora gazed with curiosity and awe at the book that was hidden behind a glass dome. It lay on top of a shelf above her grandma’s fireplace.

Her grandma and her mother were busy cooking something for dinner in the kitchen. Nora looked over her shoulder to find her family absorbed in their tasks of trying to cook the perfect homemade burgers.

Nora looked back toward the book and began to slowly reach up to remove the glass dome. A hand shot out to grab her arm.

“Nora. Remember what I said about the book? Those who read it are given a horrible fate!”

Nora tried to pull her arm away, but her grandma had a pretty strong grip.

“Let go of me, grandma! You’re hurting me!”

Nora’s mother intervened.

“Mom, please calm down. You know how your granddaughter is so curious all the time.”

Nora shot her mother a look, but she wasn’t exactly wrong. Curiosity always got the best of her every time.

Like the time when she purposely bought movie tickets to watch a PG — 13 movie, only to sneak into another theater that was showing a slasher movie. She ended up having nightmares for weeks.

“Mom. Come on. Let Nora go.”

Her grandma released Nora’s wrist. She pointed a finger at Nora.

“Don’t touch the book. Promise me.”

Nora nodded, massaging her wrist.

Her grandma gave her a strange expression. It looked like she was scared. She left and went back to the kitchen. Nora’s mother helped her finish up, and after they watched television for a while, the trio all headed to bed.

Nora’s grandma was the first one to go to bed, locking herself in her room. Before Nora went to bed, she asked her mother a question that had been plaguing her all day.

“Mom? Why doesn’t Grandma want me to touch the book?”

Nora’s mother bowed her head.

“I wish I knew. She…has always acted that way with me too. When I was young, I questioned it all the time. She kept on saying that it was cursed. I kept asking her where it came from, but she refused to say.”

“Did you ever touch the book?”

Nora’s mother became silent for a minute. Then she simply smiled.

“I think you should go to bed, sweetheart. Just forget about the whole thing, alright?”

“Sure. Whatever you say, mom.”

Nora’s mother gave her a peck on the cheek before heading off to bed. Nora waited until her mother and her grandma were asleep. Then she crawled out of bed and gently tip-toed downstairs back to the living room.

Her whole life, her grandma and mother always acted weird with the book. She wondered for several years what was inside that book.

Perhaps she discovered a dark secret inside and refuses to ever talk about the book again. Nora had to know.

She walked toward the fireplace. She made sure to not make any noise as she removed the book from its glass cage. Nora took a deep breathe and then opened the book to its first page.

She was expecting to find the worst thing she had ever seen in her life.

Nora was met with a realistic black-and-white drawing of her mother. She was reaching out, her mouth open in a silent scream.

Nora flicked through the rest of the pages and realized each page contained the same drawing. Nora heard a creak from the stairs. She looked up and saw her mother walking down the stairs.

“Mom? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to — ’’

“I’m not your mother.”

“What?”

Nora’s mother stepped closer, and Nora bit back a scream. Her eyes were pure black.

“Your mother got curious one day. She opened the book. Now, she is gone.”

Nora’s mother tilted her head to the side, her body hunched over. She smiled with a mouth with thousands of sharp teeth.

Each tooth resembled a knife.

“My dear sweet Nora,” the thing said.

Nora released a scream as the thing charged at her, its mouth wide open to consume her whole. By the time the grandma awoke, nothing was left.

The grandma pretended that everything was normal, and tried not to cry around the thing that was wearing her daughter’s skin.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn